-Brian
Mendonça
The
first thing I noticed from our 3rd floor window of Hotel Citywalk
Residency, Hampankatta, was the rapidly changing skyline of Mangalore. Down
below was the sprawling old house of Pai and Co.- its roof covered with
Mangalore tiles. In the distance a monstrosity of thirteen floors plus offices
was being constructed.
I wondered why -whenever I saw it - the Pai house was locked. Was this a way it ceded to the unplanned 'development' sitting in sullen remonstrance?
I wondered why -whenever I saw it - the Pai house was locked. Was this a way it ceded to the unplanned 'development' sitting in sullen remonstrance?
We
were lodged in Old Mangalore. A walk down Mohammad Ali street made me feel I
was in Mohammed Ali street in Mazgaon, Mumbai. Grain merchants, small provision
stores, coir and rope, small eateries and the Bombay Lucky restaurant made it
feel so inviting. The Kutchi Memon Masjid was built 1839 specially for
merchants coming from Kutch in Gujarat to trade in spices and supari.
The
Rosario cathedral was built by the Portuguese in 1568. It is modelled on the
style of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. The chapel of St. Aloysius is famous for
its paintings depicting the life of St. Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591). It was
built by Italian Jesuits in 1880. Milagres church is also well-known. It was
built in 1680 by Bishop Thomas de Castro from Divar, Goa. All three spots are
at Hampankatta.
St
Aloysius college is an imposing edifice with a vast campus. It is an autonomous
college run by the Jesuits. Professor Somayaji – who I had met in a Refresher
Course at Goa University – arranged for me to speak at University College,
Hampankatta where he teaches. The college is a constituent college of Mangalore
University and has been accorded heritage status by the UGC. It was founded in
1868.
The
best thing was that our hotel had breakfast thrown in. Queenie who takes care
of the bookings always sees we get a good deal. On day one we had masala and
plain dosas with corn flakes. On the second there were fluffy idlis and tasty upit flavoured with karipatta (curry leaves).
The
book shops were a disappointment. Crossword at Forum Mall, Attavar had no
Kannada literature in English. The store boy had not even heard of Karnad.
There was no new writing on/about Karnataka to be seen. Another book store had
tourist guides to Karnataka and Bangalore. However when I looked at the road
map the highway from Panvel to Kanyakumari was still depicted as NH 17, which
has long since been renamed NH 66.
We asked for Mangalore Holige at New Taj Mahal Cafe but it was over. We came back
with banana halva, wheat halva, and banana chips.
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·
For recipe of Mangalore chicken curry on YouTube see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rvshpGucuI . Pix: Changing skyline at old Mangalore (2/9/19); At Rosario Cathedral (2/9/19); At Government College, Mangalore (3/9/19). Courtesy Brian Mendonca. Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, Goa on Sunday, 22 September 2019.
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